1160

Ev'n lent his aid-Thrice happy! did they know
Their happiness, Britannia's bounded kings.[glooms,
What though not their's the boast, in dungeon
To plunge bold freedom; or, to cheerless, wilds,
To drive him from the cordial face of friend;
Or fierce to strike him at the midnight hour, 1150
By mandate blind, not justice, that delights
To dare the keenest eye of open day.
What though no glory to control the laws,
And make injurious will their only rule,
They deem it! what though, tools of wanton power,
Pestiferous armies swarm not at their call!
What though they give not a relentless crew
Of civil furies, proud oppression's fangs!
To tear at pleasure the dejected land,
With starving labour pam bering idle waste.
To clothe the naked, feed the hungry, wipe
The guiltless tear from lone afflction's eye;
To raise hid merit, set th' alluring light
Of virtue high to view; to nourish arts,
Direct the thunder of an injur'd state,
Make a whole glorious people sing for joy,
Bless human kind, and through the downward
Of future times to spread that better sun [depth
Which lights up British soul: for deeds like these,
The dazzling fair career unbounded lies; 1170
While (still superiour bliss!) the dark abrupt
Is kindly barr'd, the precipice of ill. "
Oh, luxury divine! O, poor to this,
Ye giddy glories of despotic thrones!
By this, by this indeed, is imag'd Heaven,
By boundless good, without the power of ill.
And now behold! exalted as the cope
That swells inmense o'er many-peopled earth,
And like it free, my fabric stands complete, 1179
The Palace of the Laws. To the four Heavens
Four gates impartial thrown, unceasing crowds,
With kings themselves the hearty peasant mix'd
Pour urgent in. And though to different ranks
Responsive place belongs, yet equal spreads
The sheltering roof o'er all; while plenty flows,
And glad contentment echoes round the whole.
Ye floods, descend! ye winds, confirming, blow!
Nor outward tempest, nor corrosive time,
Nought but the felon undermining hand
Of dark corruption, can its frame dissolve,
And lay the toil of ages in the dust."

NOTES ON PART IV.

1190

Ver. 269. The republics of Florence, Pisa, Lucca, and Sienna. They formerly have had very cruel wars together, but are now all peaceably subject to the Great Duke of Tuscany, except it be Lucca, which still maintains the form of a republic.

Ver. 282. The Genoese territory is reckoned very populous, but the towns and villages for the most part lie hid among the Apennine rocks and mountains.

Ver. 284. According to Dr. Burnet's system of the deluge.

Ver. 293. Venice was the most flourishing city in Europe, with regard to trade, before the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, and America were discovered.

Ver. 294. Those who fled to some marshes in the Adriatic gulf, from the desolation spread over Italy by an irruption of the Huns, first founded there this famous city, about the beginning of the fifth century.

Ver. 319. The main ocean.
Ibid. Great Britain.

Ver. 325. The Swiss Cantons.

Ver. 329. Geneva, situated on the Lacus Lemanus, a small state, but noble example of the blessings of civil and religious liberty.

Ver. 347. The Swiss, after having been long absent from their native country, are seiz'd with such a violent desire of seeing it again, as affects them with a kind of languishing indisposition, called the Swiss sickness.

Ver. 366. The Hans Towns.
Ver. 372. The Swedes.

Ver. 377. See note on verse 678.

Ver. 624. Great Britain was peopled by the Celta, or Gauls.

Ver. 630. The Druids, among the ancient Gauls and Britons, had the care and direction of all religious matters.

Ver. 645. The Roman empire.

Ver. 67. Caledonia, inhabited by the Scots and Picts; whither a great many Britons, who would not submit to the Romans, retired.

Ver. 652. The wall of Severus, built upon Adrian's rampart, which ran for eighty miles quite cross the country, from the mouth of the Tyne to Solway frith.

Ver. 654. Irruptions of the Scots and Picts.

Ver. 658. The Roman empire being miserably torn by the northern nations, Britain was for ever abandoned by the Romans in the year 426 or 427.

Ver. 662. The Britons applying to tins the Roman general for assistance, thus expressed their miserable condition.-" We know not which way to turn us. The barbarians drive us to sea, and the sea forces us back to the barbarians; between which we have only the choice of two deaths, either to be swallowed up by the waves, or butchered by the sword."

great exploits, and accounted the best general Ver. 665. King of the Silures, famous for his

Great Britain had ever produced. The Silures Ver. 796. The commons are generally thought were esteemed the bravest and most powerful of all to have been first represented in parliament tothe Britons: they inhabited Herefordshire, Radnor-wards the end of Henry the Third's reign. To a shire, Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire, and Gla-parliament called in the year 1264, each county morganshire.

Ver. 904. John Wickliff, doctor of divinity, who, towards the close of the fourteenth century, pubSir William Temple's Essay on Heroic Virtue.lished doctrines very contrary to those of the Ver. 701. The seven kingdoms of the Anglo-Sax-church of Rome, and particularly denying the ons, considered as being united into one common papal authority. His followers grew very numerous, government, under a general in chief, or monarch, and were called Lollards. and by the means of an assembly general, or Wittenagemot.

Ver. 1119. The prince of Orange, in his | passage to England, though his fleet had been at first dispersed by a storm, was afterwards extremely favoured by several changes of wind.

Ver. 1122. Rapin, in his History of England. The third of November the fleet entered the Channel, and lay between Calais and Dover, to stay for the ships that were behind. Here the prince called a council of war.-It is not easy to imagine what a glorious show the fleet made. Five or six hundred ships in so narrow a channel, and both the English and French shores covered with numberless spectators, are no common sight. For my part, who was then on board the fleet, I own it struck me extremely.

Ver. 1126. The prince placed himself in the main body, carrying a flag with English colours, and their highnesses' arms surrounded with this motto, The Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England; and underneath the motto of the house of Nassau, Je Maintiendrai, I will maintain. Rapin.

Ver. 1127. The English fleet.

Ver. 1130. The king's army.

20

A flavour drink, that in one piercing taste
Bids each combine. Let Gallic vineyards burst
With floods of joy; with mild balsamic juice
The Tuscan olive. Let Arabia breathe
Her spicy gales, her vital gums distil.
Turbid with gold let southern rivers flow;
And orient floods draw soft, o'er pearls, their maze.
Let Afric vaunt her treasures; let Peru
Deep in her bowels her own ruin breed,
The yellow traitor that her bliss betray'd,
Unequall'd bliss!—and to unequall'd rage!
Yet nor the gorgeous Fast, nor golden South,
Nor, in full prime, that new-discover'd world,
Where flames the falling day, in wealth and praise,
Shall with Britannia vie, while, goddess, she
Derives her praise from thee, her matchless charms,
Her hearty fruits the hand of freedom own,
And, warm with culture, her thick-clustering fields
Prolific teem. Eternal verdure crowns
Her meads; her gardens smile eternal spring.
She gives the hunter-horse, unquell'd by toil,
Ardent, to rush into the rapid chase:
She, whitening o'er her downs, diffusive, pours
Unnumber'd flocks: she weaves the fleecy robe,

Ver. 1143. By the bill of rights, and the act of That wraps the nations: she, to lusty droves,

succession.

Ver. 1144. William III.

THE

PROSPECT:

BEING THE FIFTH PART OF

LIBERTY,

A POEM.

THE CONTENTS OF PART V.

THE author addresses the goddess of Liberty, marking the happiness and grandeur of Great Britain, as arising from her influence; to ver. 88. She resumes her discourse, and points out the chief virtues which are necessary to maintain her establishment there; to ver. 374. Recommends, as its last ornament and finishing, sciences, fine arts, and public works. The encouragement of these urged from the example of France, though under a despotic government; to ver. 549. The whole concludes with a prospect of future times, given by the goddess of Liberty: this described by the author, as it passes in vision before him.

LIBERTY.

PART V.

HERE interposing, as the goddess paus'd!—
"Oh, blest Britannia! in thy presence blest,
Thou guardian of mankind! whence spring, alone,
All human grandeur, happiness, and fame:
For toil, by thec protected, feels no pain;
The poor man's lot with milk and honey flows;
And, gilded with thy rays, ev'n death looks gay.
Let other lands the potent blessings boast
Of more exalting suus. Let Asia's woods,
Untended, yield the vegetable flrece:
And let the little insect-artist form,
On higher life intent, its silken tomb.
Let wondering rocks, in radiant birth, disclose,
The various-tinctur'd children of the Sun.
From the prone beam let more delicious fruits

10

30

40
The richest pasture spreads; and, her's, deep-wave
Autumnal seas of pleasing plenty round.
These her delights: and by no baneful herb,
No darting tiger, no grim lion's glare,
No fierce-descending wolf, no serpent roll'd
In spires immense progressive o'er the land,
Disturb'd. Enlivening these, add cities, full
Of wealth, of trade, of cheerful toiling crowds;
Add thriving towns; add villages and farms,
Innumerous sow'd along the lively vale,
Where bold unrivall'd peasants happy dwell:
Add ancient seats, with venerable oaks
Embosom'd high, while kindred floods below
Wind through the mead; and those of modern
hand,

More pompous, add, that splendid shine afar.
Need I her limpid lakes, her rivers name,
Where swarm the finny race? Thee, chief, O
Thames!

50

61

On whose each tide, glad with returning sails,
And thee, thou Severn, whose prodigious swell,
Flows in the mingled harvest of mankind?
Why need I name her deep capacious ports,
And waves, resounding, imitate the main?
That point around the world? and why her seas?
All ocean is her own, and every land

70

To whom her ruling thunder ocean bears.
She too the mineral feeds: th' obedient lead,
The warlike iron, nor the peaceful less,
Forming of life art-civiliz'd the bond;
And what the Tyrian merchant sought of old,
Not dreaming then of Britain's brighter fame.
She rears to freedom an undaunted race:
Compatriot zealous, hospitable, kind,
Her's the warm Cambrian: her's the lofty Scot,
To hardship tam'd, active in arts and arms,
Fir'd with a restless, an impatient flame,
That leads hin raptur'd where ambition calls:
And English merit her's; where meet, combin'd,
Whate'er high faney, sound judicious thought,
An ample generous heart, undrooping soul,
And firm tenacious valour can bestow.
Great nurse of fruits, of flocks, of commerce, she!
Great nurse of men! By thee, O goddess, taught,
Her old renown I trace, disclose her source

80

Of wealth, of grandeur, and to Britons sing
A strain the Muses never touch'd before.

"But how shall this thy mighty kingdom stand? On what unyielding base? how finish'd shine?"

90

At this her eye, collecting all its fire,
Beam'd more than human; and her awful voice,
Majestic, thus she rais'd-" To Britons bear
This closing strain, and with intenser note
Loud let it sound in their awaken'd ear.

"On virtue can alone my kingdom stand.
On public virtue, every virtue join'd.
For, lost this social cement of mankind,
The greatest empires, by scarce felt degrees,
Will moulder soft away; till, tottering loose,
They prone at last to total ruin rush.
Unblest by virtue, government a league
Becomes, a circling junto of the great,
To rob by law; religion mild a yoke
To tame the stooping soul, a trick of state
To mask their rapine, and to share the prey.
What are without it senates, save a face
Of consultation deep and reason free,
While the determin'd voice and heart are sold?
What boasted freedom, save a sounding name?
And what election, but a market vile

100

110

121

[gift,

131

Of slaves self-barter'd? Virtue! without thee,
There is no ruling eye, no nerve, in states;
War has no vigour, and no safety peace:
Ev'n justice warps to party, laws oppress,
Wide through the land their weak protection fails,
First broke the balance, and then scorn'd the sword.
Thus nations sink, society dissolves;
Rapine and guile and violence break loose,
Everting life, and turning love to gall;
Man hates the face of man, and Indian woods
And Libya's hissing sands to him are tame.
"By those three virtues be the frame sustain'd
Of British Freedom: independent life;
Integrity in office; and, o'er all
Supreme, a passion for the common-weal.
"Hail! Independence, hail! Heaven's next best
To that of life and an immortal soul!
The life of life! that to the banquet high
And sober meal gives taste; to the bow'd roof
Fair-dream'd repose, and to the cottage charms.
Of public freedom, hail, thou secret source!
Whose streams, from every quarter confluent, form
My better Nile, that nurses human life.
By rills from thee deduc'd, irriguous, fed,
The private field looks gay, with Nature's wealth
Abundant flows, and blooms with each delight
That Nature craves. Its happy master there,
The only freeman, walks his pleasing round:
Sweet-featur'd Peace attending; fearless Truth;
Firm Resolution; Goodness, blessing all
That can rejoice; Contentment, surest friend;
And, still fresh stores from Nature's book deriv'd,
Philosophy, companion ever new.
These, cheer his rural, and sustain or fire,
When into action call'd, his busy hours.
Meantime true judging moderate desires,
Economy and taste, combin'd, direct
His clear affairs, and from debauching fiends
Secure his little kingdom. Nor can those
Whom fortune heaps, without these virtues, reach
That truce with pain, that animated ease,
That self enjoyment springing from within;
That Independence, active, or retir'd,
Which make the soundest bliss of man below:
But, lost beneath the rubbish of their means,

See! how the hall with brutal riot flows;
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party-rage.
Mark! those disgraceful piles of wood and stone;
Those parks and gardens, where, his haunts be-
trimm'd,

180

And Nature by presumptuous art oppress'd,
The woodland genius mourns. Sce! the full board
That streams disgust, and bowls that give no joy:
No truth invited there, to feed the mind;
Nor wit, the wine rejoicing reason quaffs.
Hark! how the dome with insolence resounds, 170
With those retain'd by vanity to scare
Repose and friends. To tyrant fashion mark
The costly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Of fools. From still delusive day to day,
Led an eternal round of lying hope,
See! self-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dash'd o'er the town, a miserable wreck!
Then to adorn some warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' cars they crowd; or to the buz
Of masquerade unblushing; or, to show
Their scorn of Nature, at the tragic scene
They mirthful sit, or prove the comic true.
But, chief, behold around the rattling board,
The civil robbers rang'd; and ev'n the fair,
The tender fair, each sweetness laid aside,
As fierce for plunder as all-licens'd troops
In some sack'd city. Thus dissolv'd their wealth,
Without one generous luxury dissolv'd,
Or quarter'd on it many a needless want,
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe: 190
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,
Each smooth as those that mutually deceive,
And for their falsehood each despising each;
Till shook their patron by the wintery winds,
Wide flies the wither'd shower, and leaves him bare.
O, far superior Afric's sable sons,
By merchant pilfer'd, to these willing slaves!
And, rich, as unsqueez'd favourite, to them,
Is he who can his virtue boast alone!

"Britons! be firm !-nor let corruption sly 200
Twine round your heart indissoluble chains!
The steel of Brutus burst the grosser bonds
By Cæsar cast o'er Rome; but still remain'd
The soft enchanting fetters of the mind,
And other Cæsars rose. Determin'd, hold
Your independence! for, that once destroy'd,
Unfounded, freedom is a morning dream,
That flits aërial from the spreading eye.
"Forbid it Heaven! that ever I need urge
Integrity in office on my sons!
Inculcate common honour-not to rob-
And whom?-The gracious, the confiding hand,
That lavishly rewards; the toiling poor,
Whose cup with many a bitter drop is mixt;
The guardian public; every face they see,
And every friend, nay, in effect, themselves.
As in familiar life, the villain's fate
Admits no cure; so, when a desperate age
150 At this arrives, I the devoted race

141

210